“Have you seen this happen in any other country,” Ravi Ashwin defends Hardik Pandya amidst growing criticism
Hardik Pandya has been receiving the stick from the fans over the past couple of months. This has only worsened after the start of the 2024 IPL season, which saw him replacing Rohit Sharma as the skipper of the Mumbai Indians.
The Indian all-rounder has been booed in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, and he is expected to receive a hostile welcome at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. Ravi Ashwin has come out in defense of his Indian teammate, and stated that it is the responsibility of the fans to stop booing the Mumbai Indians skipper.
Ravi Ashwin stated that the likes of Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have all played under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, who in turn has played Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Hence, he sees nothing wrong in Hardik Pandya leading a Mumbai side stacked with senior players.
“I don’t understand. If you don’t like a player and boo a player, why should a team come out to issue a clarification? We act like this has not happened before. (Sourav) Ganguly played under Sachin (Tendulkar) and vice versa. These two have both played under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. These three have played under Anil Kumble and all of them have played under Dhoni. When they were under Dhoni, these players were cricket jambhavans (giants). Dhoni too played under Virat,” Ravichandran Ashwin was quoted by Sportstar.
Ravi Ashwin defends Hardik Pandya amidst captaincy saga
Ravi Ashwin stated that it is not the responsibility of the players or the teams to come out, and issue an statement. The Indian spinner recollected that such instances have happened in the past, and appealed to the fans to stop waging a war between two Indian star cricketers.
“Have you seen this happen in any other country? Have you seen Joe Root and Zak Crawley fans fight? Or have you seen Joe Root and Jos Buttler fans fight? It’s crazy. Have you seen Steve Smith and Pat Cummins fans fight in Australia?,” he added.
To further compound Hardik Pandya’s misery, Mumbai Indians have gotten off to a poor start yet again in the 17th edition of the IPL. The five-time champions have lost both their opening matches. The MI skipper had an opportunity to take his side past the finishing line in both the matches, however, he failed to do so against both Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
